Random Act of Kindness Award

The lovely Em, of Famine to Feast, nominated me for the Random Act of Kindness Award. I had to read her post twice to make sure it was actually me she was referring to, it was an unexpected, sweet gesture. Em is truly a genuine person and she allows us to bear witness to her personal recovery journey. When dealing with mental health struggles, recovery is a constant state of being and is often met with overwhelming obstacles; Em strikes back with perseverance and resilience, I truly admire that.

The biggest challenge for me is deciding who to nominate. Over the past several months, I have connected with so many people. You all continue to shower me with encouragement, support, and constructive feedback, for that I will always be grateful. With that being said, narrowing down to one person is extremely difficult; I would like to nominate Sophia Ismaa. Sophia recently created the Flawesome Award, encouraging others to embrace their flaws. She is also incredibly kind, funny, and supportive.

Despite its simplicity, kindness continues to be an underrated quality. Perhaps its simplicity is the reason why it is often overlooked. No act of kindness is too small; holding a door open, giving someone a compliment, or even offering someone a pen. Below is just once example of my own experience with kindness. I am fortunate to have many kind experiences, these days it is a luxury.

One day, I was headed to school which involved two trains and a subway ride. I was rushing, as usual, up the subway steps and was prepared to speedily walk through the turnstiles when I was halted by the loud beep that told everyone I had no money on my MetroCard. I didn’t have any money on me either to refill it. I stood there with tears welling because I was too afraid to ask someone to help me. Morning commuters whizzed pass me and I couldn’t look them in the eye. An older woman stopped and tapped on my arm. She motioned swiping her MetroCard, looked at me, and smiled. I rapidly nodded my head and she swiped me through. We did not even exchange words and this woman helped me. Sometimes random acts of kindness can truly be simple and heartwarming.

Below are the instructions for passing the award forward:

1. tell us who you are nominating, and why;
2. copy and share the picture that shows the award, which i posted above;
3. share a paragraph of something that impacted your own life in the way of receiving kindness or show how you extended kindness to someone else. For instance:
   • i was once waiting in a drive-thru line for twenty minutes. i was in a hurry, but the line didn’t move much, it felt like. my day was getting worse by the moment. when i got to the drive-thru window, the cashier said someone had paid for my meal already. that really made my day a lot better.
4. nominate anyone, or share to your own page, if you choose to participate. tag or pingback to the original person who nominated you, or the original.